+An emotional Rashomon-styled narrative starring five distinctive and well-written protagonists
+Fast-paced battle system inspired by fighting games, with
a variety of playstyles based on the playable character
+Stunning visuals native to Vanillaware games
-A noticeable lack of variety in terms of stages and bosses progressively throughout the game

This game is too long for its own good. To get to the ending, you will need to essentially play the same game with 5 different characters, and chances are you are mentally done after just one. There's also something discouraging about having to start from level 1 with each new character over and over again when you've just finished a playthrough with a lvl 70 something character. Another unfortunate consequence of all this is also that there is a high chance you'll be forced to play with a character or two whose gameplay you're just not feeling. Thankfully you can always switch the difficulty to easy if you want to speed things up by a few hours.

The gameplay is good. It's satisfying to chain different skills together to juggle an enemy for a long period of time, or to cause a massive barrage of explosions and damage indicators popping up on the screen by casting spells and using items back to back in a quick succession.

The prose is also good when it's good, and I'm glad to have got to the ending to see how the game wrapped up everything. Some of the story moments will also blow your mind to a degree when things that were foreshadowed earlier come together in a logical manner. However, the payoff of the ending struggles to be substantial enough to justify the time and the amount of repetitive gameplay needed to get there. Come for the gorgeous art and stay for it too, I guess.

Disclosure: I was QA on the original version of this title

I played the original when it came out and I liked it a lot. This is a pretty extensive remaster -- it adds HD graphics as well as retooling the combat system, bringing it closer to some of Vanillaware's more recent titles.

The combat switch up really changes the feel of this game. It is more about racking up combos and juggling enemies. I feel like in the original I spent more time picking my shots and playing defensively. I didn't hate the old combat, but this new version plays really well, and it is cool that you can switch it to classic mode if you prefer it.

This game looked great when it first came out and it looks amazing now in HD. I like these character designs better than most of Vanillaware's other games and they still hold up.

I like the story in Odin Sphere, it is an interesting mesh of different perspectives that come together to give you a broader understanding of everything that is going on. It is cool, but takes a long time to get to its point and some of the chapters feel like they have some filler in order to bring them up to the right size. The writing can also be a bit grating and repetitive at times, though the voice acting is really great.

Odin Sphere is a fun game to play through and has an interesting story. I am glad this remaster exists and that it makes the combat and the game itself a bit more accessible.

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is another banger game released by Vanillaware and between Muramasa and 13 Sentinels, the only other Vanillaware games i've played, this game falls in the middle of both camps. It has a strong gameplay-focus like Muramasa but it also has a good overarching narrative like 13 Sentinels. Though i wouldn't say Odin Sphere's plot is anywhere near as good as 13 Sentinels, i loved the sort of fairy tale simplicity that was going on in the narrative. It makes sense too, after all, this story is told through the eyes of a little girl reading books about legends from long ago. In fact, i would argue that Odin Sphere is a great example of "sometimes, simple is best". It's not a complicated tale and it's themes aren't particularly deep but it's characters have enough charm and it's through the simplicity of their stories that i was able to feel invested in them and their struggle. The overarching narrative also makes it really cool when you're able to see when two unrelated events are happening at the same time and how they may affect the overall narrative. The most noticeable example is when four of the five protagonists are in the Kingdom of Titania, fighting through the streets and the sewers are around basically the same time, yet for completely different reasons. But that's just the big one, as there are other moments in the narrative like this and it's just really cool to see. It adds an element of worldbuilding that you don't really tend to see in a lot of other games, even those that have excellent worldbuilding otherwise.

Character ranking: Velvet > Oswald = Gwendolyn >= Cornelius > Mercedes.

Gameplay-wise, it is a pretty fun 2D action game. I already found Muramasa to be fun and this game is just that but better. Unlike in Muramasa, each character plays completely differently so while the game can feel a bit repetitive in the areas you visit, it manages to mitigate that by giving everyone unique movesets. Gwendolyn and Cornelius are your standard lance and sword wielders respectively and i believe they came first because of how relatively simple they are to play as. Then Mercedes shakes things up by letting her fly freely and shoot very quickly, decimating enemies at the cost of her combo game. And if you were missing combos after playing as her, then good for you, because after Mercedes comes Oswald who literally has Devil Trigger. Velvet is a mix of Gwendolyn's range and Oswald's combo game thanks to her chains and as a result, she ended up becoming my favorite character to play as. Velvet really was a case of the best being saved for last.

Gameplay ranking: Velvet > Oswald > Cornelius = Gwendolyn > Mercedes.

The presentation of the game doesn't require me to say much. It's Vanillaware, makers of games with beautiful 2D art. I was really in love with how much this game embraced it's fantastical nature. Every stage background is gorgeous and the character designs are on point. Music good. I've got to say, this is easily the best-looking Vanillaware game. More of this please. I also have to give special shoutout to the command inputs. You're given five special inputs for your Psypher Skills but not only can you register more whenever you feel like it but you can even choose whether they are triggered by the D-pad or the control stick and whether or not they can only be activated on the ground or on the air. You don't see something like that in action-games a lot, at least i haven't. So good for you Vanillaware.

If there's any criticisms i have about the game, there is the repetition issue i mentioned earlier. Sure, it's mitigated by each character's unique movesets but if you continuously play this game, you might find yourself feeling a bit burned out. It's not super short like Muramasa is and it doesn't have the story/gameplay side thingy that 13 Sentinels has, so the possibility for burnout is there a little bit. As far as the story goes, while Mercedes grew on me as a character, i found her story to be the weakest one and that alongside the fact that i wished for a more combo-oriented character meant that i did admittedly have the least fun with her route, though it's not like i wasn't enjoying it. The presentation slightly tanks a bit whenever you do something in one character's story that leads into an event you already saw in another so the game just cuts to black and goes "and so, this this and that happened and now we go to the next scene". It's understandable why they did it but 13 Sentinels had several moments where you would see other character's stories playing out in the background while you're doing whoever's story it is you're doing at the moment. I won't hold it against Vanillaware for not doing something they end up doing in a later game, it would've been nice to see.

Odin Sphere is good and it gets the Armagon Seal of Approval.

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

Visualmente el juego es excelente, y la música está al nivel. En cuanto a jugabilidad también me encanta, cada PJ tiene sus mecánicas.

Lo único que le falla es que es muy repetitivo, tanto por mapa como por bosses.

(7/10)

Recomendado.

Un sistema de combate y una serie de sistemas complementario muy bien cuidados acompañan a una fuerte trama sobre "desafiar al destino" presentado desde una perspectiva que se escapa del cliché. Es, básicamente, un cuento de hadas moderno libre de idealismo.

Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir cuenta con una historia y unos personajes trágicos fantásticamente construidos, qué junto a un mundo interesante y verosímil narra una bella trama que trata su tema sobre el destino de una manera más realista y humana a lo qué estamos acostumbrados. En términos jugables, resulta ser una experiencia gratificante por la mayor parte del tiempo, tiene problemas en cuanto a la repetición y peca de ser condescendiente, pero lo compensa con un muy buen combate y sus enfrentamientos basados en oleadas que ofrecen un reto ya sea contra jefes o mini-jefes. Logra mantener un alto nivel de profundidad en sus sistemas gracias a la personalización del combate, sus diferenciados personajes y las dinámicas complementarias que resultan estar muy bien cuidadas en términos de balance y escalamiento. El peor crimen de esta obra fue optar por un gimmick narrativo que terminó dañando su conclusión, sin embargo no creo que este sea suficiente motivo como para desechar a sus muy cuidadas dinámicas, su profundo combate, su entretenido bucle jugable, sus trágicos personajes, y su muy conmovedora historia.

~ ANÁLISIS COMPLETO: https://youtu.be/N3hNnW5sxkA ~

One of my favorite games ever. It's a nearly-perfect remake of the PS2 version, adding quality of life that was very sorely needed, as well as new backgrounds for levels, more (enchanting) music, and completely revamped mechanics. The unique athmosphere of the original game now shines brighter with these new additions.

As for the negatives, I wish some of the bosses didn't repeat that much. While the devs improved the boss variety with new minibosses, having to fight the same few story bosses 4 or 5 times really hurts.
Also, a boss rush mode can be unlocked after finishing the game, but I wish it had been an extra biome to explore instead (either the ones that each of the characters don't explore, or an entirely new one).

With just slightly more assets (like 2 extra main bosses and maybe an extra world to explore), it would be a perfect game by my book.

Overall, 9.5/10 game. Play it till the end, the last segment of the story is worth it!

le cambiaron un par de cosas al juego original y lo hicieron 10 veces mejor porque el combate ahora es GOD (aunque si es un poquito repetitivo), pasa de ser una experiencia aburrida donde necesitas jugar a la defensiva todo el tiempo a un juego donde haces malabares con los enemigos y podes hacer combos larguisimos que se hacen mas largos conforme vas desbloqueando habilidades con los SEIS PERSONAJES!! que controlas. la historia se hace medio complicada de seguir porque cuando cambias de capitulos la linea temporal medio que se da vuelta sobre si misma y hay cosas que terminas no entendiendo si no prestas muchisima atencion durante las cinematicas y lees los documentos, tampoco ayuda que algunos personajes secundarios sean recolors de enemigos o directamente el mismo sprite.

la musica de sakimoto acompaña perfectamente a este juego que visualmente es un espectaculo, el mundo esta construido enteramente con escenarios y personajes 2d super coloridos dibujados a mano que tengo entendido que es la estetica que usa vanillaware para sus juegos asi que me dejo manija para probar otros titulos.

A good fit for Vita, and a game I really liked at the start and especially the end. Some of the characters are really fun to play as now and it's shocking how far it's come since the PS2 version which I found pretty much unplayable. Fun to compare the two versions!

My main issue is the sag in the middle; the game's probably too long (or rather you have to play the same shorter game too many times) and playing as Oswald caused me to drop the game for two years. Pushing through was worth it in the end, though.

My first Vanillaware game! The artstyle and design are what initially drew me in to Odin Sphere, but the gameplay and story made it more than worth it. It now stands as one of the best games I've ever played, and stands high on the list of games that made me cry the most.
The environments are gorgeous, encompassing everywhere from an aurora-cast city in the clouds to a glowing fairy paradise deep in a forest. The enemy design and animations aid in making every location feel alive, and the respective characters you meet in every locale adds to the fantastic ambiance of Odin Sphere that never gets boring.
2D side-scroller action games are something many consider played out and stagnant, but Vanillaware has a way of standing out with Odin Sphere's combat. It's easy to get the hang of, highly customizable, fluid, fast, and fun. Getting to experiment with each character's abilities and upgrading those that fit your playstyle allows for extremely satisfying combat. Additionally, the animations for many actions are masterfully done and simply add to how gorgeous every aspect of this game is.
The dungeon style of Odin Sphere is extremely unique, and it keeps the game fresh and fun while also being extremely simple to navigate. Exploration aspects like finding all items in a room and the clues given to you about chests with hidden psyphers was a perfect compliment to the well-made combat.
Cooking is the third mechanic that stood out to me. Collecting ingredients throughout levels, growing fruits and vegetables right there on the battlefield, and using your own power (phosons) to help them grow and give you EXP was lots of fun, and using what you grew at Maury's travelling restaurant while discovering new recipes in every chapter added to an already rewarding experience.
The original PS2 Odin Sphere was criticized for its difficulty, and I understand why. Playing the game on Hard (which was Normal difficulty in the 2007 original) was a challenge, and the easier difficulties added in Leifthrasir makes the game as a whole much more accessible and enjoyable.
Content-wise, you can play through the main story in somewhere between 25-40 hours, which felt sufficient for the story being told. I found it really cool how there are multiple final bosses, and you can fight any one of them with any of the main characters. Postgame content is almost nonexistent, except for a boss rush "Churning Rift of the World" mode.
The story in Odin Sphere is one of the best in any RPG (or any game ever) that I've seen. A main premise of five interconnected stories initially seemed like there wouldn't be any room for good development, but by the end I was extremely attached to all the characters and even a few of the antagonists. Furthermore, I never felt the pacing was reset or lost with the start of a new storybook and the beginning of a new character's story. Mercedes' ending is genuinely one of the most emotional moments I've experienced from a video game, although every protagonist was extremely well written and voice acted. The design of the main protagonists and many of the side characters is also top-tier, creating a cast of unforgettable characters that stand out immensely.
The music in Odin Sphere, while good, is simply standard. It doesn't stand out like all the other aspects of the game - with one exception. The main theme/credits music is a beautiful piece that fits the vibe of the game and adds to its beauty.
Odin Sphere is a game I will not soon forget, and a game I will soon return to and replay. Vanillaware's magnum opus, a masterpiece of writing, gameplay, and art combined into one. Absolutely worth a playthrough, or two, or more!